The Office of the Vice President for Research oversees the following shared-use core facilities.
Service Core Review Committees
Animal Behavior Core (ABC)
The ABC offers validated and reliable testing of mice over a broad range of physiological and behavioral domains, including general health, cognitive, emotional, sensory and motor function. The core conducts mouse behavior tests for UK investigators, ensures that qualified and trained investigators have access to state-of-the-art instrumentation and expertise necessary to perform behavior tests, and assists in the design, implementation and analysis of behavioral experiments in mice.
Division of Laboratory Animal Resources (DLAR)
DLAR, a support unit for animal-based research at UK, provides the best possible veterinary and humane care for the laboratory animal species used by researchers at UK. Highly skilled and dedicated staff technicians and technologists are certified by the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science. The staff includes registered and licensed veterinary health technicians who monitor the health of research animals on a daily basis. They provide care and treatment where needed under the direction of the veterinary staff. In addition to the animal care program, DLAR offers technical services, complete surgical resources, pathology, breeding colony management, and species-specific training.
Energy Balance & Body Composition Core (EBC)
The Energy Balance and Body Composition Core (EBC) provides the equipment for measurement of lean/fat mass and whole body metabolism in mice. Because the primary focus of the COCVD is to identify mechanisms linking obesity to cardiovascular disease, it is imperative to obtain a sensitive, reproducible quantitative analysis of these measures of adiposity and metabolism. The Echo MRI is utilized for non-invasive quantitative assessment of lean and fat mass. The Sable Promethion Calorimeter indirectly measures oxygen consumption (RER), food and water intake, and physical activity in mice.
Flow Cytometry and Immune Monitoring Core
The Flow Cytometry and Immune Monitoring Core Facility offers state-of-the-art flow cytometry cell analysis and high-speed sorting to the research community at UK and has been in continuous operation since 1983. The skilled staff provide a variety of flow cytometric approaches for multiparameter fluorescent analysis and sorting of eukaryotic and prokaryotic cell types. Cell sorting and analysis is also available for live human cells and infectious (BSL-2 level) samples. Training on analytical cytometers is available to investigators and their staff so laboratories can analyze their own samples at reduced cost.
Light Microscopy Core
The Light Microscopy Core offers state-of-the-art imaging equipment for research on biological systems, ranging from neuroscience to physiology, and cutting-edge materials science. The core offers training to UK researchers on the following equipment: Nikon AR1+ Confoal Microscope, Zeiss PALM Laser Microcapture Microscope, Nikon N-SIM+ N-STORM Super Resolution Microscope, Leica TSP SP5 Confocal Microscope with Environmental Chamber, Zeiss 880 NLO upright Confocal Microscope with Airyscan and Airyscan Fast, JPK Nanowizard Atomic Force- Nikon A1 Confocal Microscope hybrid, Zeiss Axioscan Z1 automated Slide Scanner, X-Clarity Tissue Clearing System.
Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics Core
The Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics Core provides comprehensive analytical services to the research community at the University of Kentucky and beyond. These facilities offer advanced equipment and expertise for quantitation, structural analysis, proteomic analysis, and protein characterization. The core serves as a valuable resource by granting access to state-of-the-art analytical equipment and assisting researchers with sample preparation, method development, data acquisition, and data analysis. Researchers can utilize this core facility for various applications, including quantifying substances and conducting structural analyses. Analytical services offered by the core include small molecule analysis, proteomics, lipidomics, and metabolomics.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy Center (MRISC)
MRISC is a service and consultation center supporting basic and clinical research at UK. The center includes an advanced 3T Siemens Magnetom Trio scanner with high performance gradients, echo-planar whole body imaging and hydrogen spectroscopic capabilities for both human and animal studies, and a Bruker/Siemens 7T MR scanner for animal studies with adjacent facilities for animal handling, preparation and care. There are also computing facilities, electronic and fabrication shops, and a multi-user laboratory available to support magnetic resonance and spectroscopy studies. Scientific and technical personnel are available to help in developing MR sequences and procedures.
Pathology Research Core
The Pathology Research core facilitates the COCVD projects by providing equipment and technical expertise to embed and section tissue specimens and perform chemical staining of tissue sections to be examined, photographed, and analyzed chromogenically by light microscopy.